Free Republic

People who have questioned aspects of mainstream climate research appear on a list of 132 possible candidates for positions on EPA’s influential Science Advisory Board, which the agency has opened for public comment until September 28. One candidate believes more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will “confer great benefits upon future inhabitants of the globe” by driving plant growth. Another has said of the climate change debate that “scare tactics and junk science are used to secure lucrative government contracts.” Five candidates have challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s own science on the warming of the planet in court. But the...

Houston has barely begun to dry out from Hurricane Harvey, and Florida faces a massive rebuilding effort after the Irma catastrophe. These two storms, among the most powerful in American history, are typical of the extreme weather events that are likely to become more common as the planet warms. So why isn’t the public heeding scientists and demanding climate action by politicians that could help deal with these destructive extremes? You can point fingers at the influence of fossil fuel companies, at misinformation from climate deniers and at political obstructionism, notably from a fragmented Republican party. But a much deeper...

Climate models have an even better track record than the weather models that saved lives in Texas and Florida. The impacts of hurricanes Harvey and Irma were blunted because we saw them coming. Weather models accurately predicted the hurricane paths and anticipated their extreme intensities days in advance. This allowed millions of Floridians to evacuate the state, sparing countless lives. Although they focus on much different timescales and resolutions, climate and weather models are based on the same core physics. Millions of people watched the evolution of the model forecasts for hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and made important decisions based...

As Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Texas coast, few people in that state seemed to understand the nature of the looming danger. Experts pleaded with the public ahead of the storm that “the most dangerous aspect of this hurricane may be days of rainfall and associated flooding.” Now we know how events in Texas turned out. Dr. Shepherd and his colleagues have spent their careers issuing a larger warning, one that much of the public still chooses to ignore. I speak, of course, about the risks of climate change. Because of atmospheric emissions from human activity, the ocean waters...

Claims in the Mail on Sunday that global warming data had been exaggerated in order to secure the Paris climate change agreement have been criticised by the UK’s press regulator. The Independent Press Standards Organisation censured the newspaper for publishing a story in early February that was flawed in key aspects. The news story suggested that data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the world’s gold-standard sources of weather and climate research, had been treated in such a way as to suggest greater warming than had really occurred. The research hinged on the “pause” in...

Hundreds of riot police mobilized in downtown St. Louis overnight, arresting more than 80 people and seizing weapons amid reports of property damage and vandalism following another day of peaceful protests over a former police officer's acquittal in the killing of a black man. The arrests late Sunday came after demonstrators ignored orders to disperse, police said. "I'm proud to tell you the city of St. Louis is safe and the police owned tonight," Interim Police Chief Lawrence O'Toole said at a news conference early Monday.

WASHINGTON - State Department officials briefed Senate staff on Friday on plans to cut up to $10 billion from the department’s budget over five years, but offered few specifics to ease concerns that the administration risked weakening U.S. standing in the world. Many lawmakers, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, worry about his plans to slash the State Department budget to help boost military spending. The Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee issued a blistering report last week accompanying its spending plan for State, accusing the Trump administration of pursuing a “doctrine of retreat” on foreign policy. At a news conference this...

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the London terror attack, according to reports. The group’s official Amaq news agency has announced that a “detachment” was behind Friday’s explosion on a packed subway train. “The bombing of the IED in the London tube was carried out by a unit affiliated to the Islamic State,” the agency said, according to the Independent. The group cited security sources, though terror analysts warned that the claim could be a ruse.

Federal immigration authorities said Friday that they were tracking a young immigrant when San Francisco police allege he shot and killed a popular community activist last month. Erick Garcia-Pineda, 18, was detained in December and released from custody in April pending deportation. ICE says the sheriff's department ignored a request to block his release from jail. San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy bars the sheriff from cooperating with immigration officials unless they are seeking suspects convicted or charged with violent crimes.

A year ago Luis Alberto Mendez was an able-bodied immigrant from Mexico who worked as a carpenter. He had suffered from depression, but his lawyer said he had gotten the symptoms under control with medication. He was also undocumented. Today Mendez is a quadriplegic who is confined to his brother’s home in San Jose. He needs constant care and has no money. He blames Sacramento County and the U.S. government, and he’s suing them both. Mendez, 37, is a native of Mexico who does not dispute that he was in the United States illegally in 2016. When agents detained him,...

Venomous snakes are among the most feared animals in the world, and they may start slithering into new places. Yanez-Arenas: “So as our climate changes, so too will the potential for a species to expand their ranges and come in contact with people they never will have before.” Carlos Yanez-Arenas is a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 2015, while a post-doc at the University of Kansas, he used climate models to predict where dozens of species of snakes will be able to live by 2050. He found that with warmer temperatures, many snakes, such as copperheads...

... Suggesting that climate scientists are pushing a line about global warming because their salaries depend on it is a popular talking point that deniers love to throw around. But why do so many “sceptics”, particularly those who form part of the organised machinery of climate science denial, feel comfortable in accusing climate scientists of only being in it for the money? Duke University history professor Nancy MacLean suggests some answers in her new book Democracy in Chains: the Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America. The book documents how wealthy conservatives, in particular petrochemical billionaire Charles...

A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds a 5 percent chance that rapid global warming will be “catastrophic” or worse for the human race. The study led by Veerabhadran “Ram” Ramanathan, a distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric sciences and adviser to Pope Francis, found that an average global temperature increase greater than 3 degrees centigrade could result in “catastrophic” — and over 5 degrees “existential” — threat to humanity. These categories describe two low-probability but statistically significant scenarios that could play out by the century’s end according to an analysis of different models of global warming by...

Just over a year ago, Black Lives Matter UK successfully shut down London City airport. Our aims were to call attention to three things: Britain’s historical responsibility for global temperature changes, while the UK remains among the least vulnerable countries to the direct effects of climate change; second, that black people and poor people globally suffer the most from environmental impacts; and third, that safe freedom of movement is a reality only for the privileged, wealthy and mostly white. Black Lives Matter UK and the Black Lives Matter US network need to set the record straight: 1) Black Lives Matter...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that the Trump administration’s upcoming tax plan will not be aimed at lowering income taxes for the wealthiest Americans. ”“We are looking for a middle income tax cut. On the high end the plan is to eliminate state and local deductions ... and even if we do end up with a slight reduction on the high end that will be offset by a reduction of deductions so their taxes won’t go down,” Mnuchin said.

Nancy Pelosi said she trusted President Donald Trump’s sincerity in working to protect so-called Dreamers. “When we’re talking about this legislation to protect the Dreamers, yes I do trust that the president is sincere in understanding that the public supports that overwhelmingly, the public supports not sending these young people back,” Pelosi told reporters.

Stick a fork in the Democrats and Republicans. Wednesday night's latest round of deal making between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders is the latest evidence that the major political parties have lost all semblance of real power. Never before have we seen the leadership of both major political parties so humbled. That power vacuum is currently enabling the president to act without any loyalty to his own party, while working with whomever he pleases on whatever issues he wants. It's why we have a Republican congressional leadership, headlined by a Senate Majority Leader with an 18 percent approval...

The organizers of a four-day event of right-wing activism planned for Berkeley later this month announced their full lineup of speakers Thursday. Sunday, Sept. 24 : “ Feminism Awareness Day ” · Miss Elaine · Lucian Wintrich · Lisa DePasquale · Chadwick Moore · Milo Yiannopoulos Monday, Sept. 25 : “ Zuck 2020 ” · Heather Mac Donald · Monica Crowley · Sabo · Jordan Peterson · James Damore Tuesday, Sept. 26 : “ Islamic Peace and Tolerance Day ” · Michael Malice · Raheem Kassam · Katie Hopkins · Erik Prince · Pamela Geller · David Horowitz · Milo...

The children of deported adults could continue to go to school in California under a bill state lawmakers sent to Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday. State law currently requires students between the ages of 6 and 18 to attend public school in the district where their parent or legal guardian resides. If parents are deported, their children often follow. Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) who introduced the bill, cites reports that show many U.S.-born children who move to Mexico to join their parents are not able to speak Spanish well enough to integrate into society or succeed in school. Lara, the...

Google faces a new lawsuit accusing it of gender-based pay discrimination. A lawyer representing three female former Google employees is seeking class action status for the claim. The suit follows a federal labor investigation that made a preliminary finding of systemic pay discrimination among the 21,000 employees at Google's headquarters. The initial stages of the review found women earned less than men in nearly every job classification. The suit is on behalf of three women — Kelly Ellis, Holly Pease and Kelli Wisuri — who all quit after being put on career tracks that they claimed would pay them less...